Almost Heroic

Almost Heroic is a very short RPG created for Ludum Dare #33 in RPG Maker VX Ace. It features all custom graphics and a hysterically comical ending. This review will have mild spoilers, but the game is ten minutes long and if you've read the description you can likely make a strong guess at the game's 'twist.'

Your name is Alex (No, not that Alex, this is a completely different Alex. No, not that one either!). You are a tiny blue haired man who apparently loves to pick fights with people. One day, the emperor shows up and carts off your girlfriend, Arianne, to be his wife! Alex must destroy the imperial troops and even a dragon to rescue his beloved. When you win, you'll find out maybe this was a bad idea.



The game looks and plays differently from most RMVX games. It has entirely custom art assets, which is impressive for a game made in such a short time. Combat eschews any sort of menu or decision making and consists of a short rhythm game where successes damage your enemy and failures damage you instead. While it makes combat feel like a brutal struggle against a foe, I didn't find it very engaging as all the commands you must use are dictated to you and you can never get stronger or influence things in any way. You can occasionally hit Space Bar to perform an oddly-satisfying special attack, but I was unclear on what triggered this.

The game's story is very brief and to the point. The game was created by a non-english speaker, it seems, so the English in the game is not perfect, but it's always clear what is happening and what is expected of you, so I won't really take points off for not speaking English. Alex is mostly a silent protagonist anyway, and mostly communicates by cracking skulls.

So as seen from space, this looks like a pretty bog-standard RPG experience. What's the catch? Well, the contest's theme was "You are the monster.' Rather than make a game where you literally played as a monster, the team who created Almost Heroic decided instead to explore and deconstruct the kind of behavior that most RPGs take for granted. Anyone you kill leaves a gravestone and a grieving family behind, taking items from people's houses can have awful consequences, and acting like a jackass who fights first and asks questions later will only cause problems. It's a novel idea that's been done before, but generally in an overly comedic way. Here, it's mostly played straight. At the end of the game, you'll be forced to see the consequences of all your sins in a pretty neat montage. Unfortunately, any emotional weight is lost due to the most hysterically over-the-top consequence imaginable to your misguided quest coming to pass.

While you can avoid committing a lot of crimes, some seem unavoidable and it seems impossible to actually alter the game's outcome, so the game scolding you for your behavior feels wrong-headed since it doesn't seem possible to actually do the right thing. Maybe there was something I missed, but given the game's theme, I doubt it.

So that's pretty much it. It's a very short game, and can easily be completed in about fifteen minutes or less, with an amusing twist and some charming unique graphics. I feel like the twist lacked any real bite to it (I feel like a game like this needs multiple endings to really sell the idea that you screwed up rather than simply being set-up to fail) and the combat serves it's purpose but doesn't serve any end but to pad the game out. Try this game out if you like the art style (I understand it has some original music as well) or if the idea of watching an RPG protagonist get called out for his sociopathy is amusing to you.